Improvement in claw-bars



M. BUTTS.

CLAW-BAR.

N o 178 4 0 7 Patented. June 6, 1876.

. I i %WMM do %w a M. ATTORNEYS WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MESHAOH. BUTTS, 0F SHAWNEE, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLAW-BARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 78,407, dated une 6, 1876; application filed January 22, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MESHACH BUTTS, of Shawnee, in the county of Perry and State of Ohio, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Olaw- Bars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings are representations of side views of my claw-bar.

This invention has relation toimprovements in claw-bars which are especially adapted for drawing railroad-spikes, which confine the rails to the cross-ties; and it consists in combining with an operating-lever a shoe, curved on its under side, and provided at each end with a claw, whereby a very efl'ective device is produced for the purpose mentioned, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the annexed drawings, the letter A designates a wrought metal lever of the usual length, and preferably of tapering form, which is provided near its lower end with a bent portion, a, which forms, with the body of the lever, an obtuse angle. The weight or larger end of this lever is provided with a shoe, B, greatly resembling a crescent, the ends of which are each provided with a bifurcation or split peen, b 1), adapted to receive the spike below the head. The bottom of this shoe is regularly curved or rounded, as shown at c, Fig. 1, and a changeable fulcrum is thus provided, which is very near the claw at the beginning of the operation of drawing a spike at the time when such an operation requires the greatest power, and rapidly recedes therefrom, as the necessity for such power decreases. Consequently, when the greatest power is required to move the nail, such power is obtainable with, of course, a corresponding decrease of speed;but where the first resistance has been overcome, the speed with which the said spike is withdrawn from the tie rapidly increases in proportion to the degree of force required to complete the extraction thereof.

The advantage gained by my doubly-bifurcated claw-bar is that, with the claw b of shoe B, I can draw a spike on the outside of the track, and in doing soraise up upon thehandle, by which means a greater power is obtained than simply by bearing down, and that with the claw b a spike upon the inside of the track may be drawn by lowering the said handle, and during both operations the track-man may stand upon the track, thus requiring little or no change of position on his part, and doing away with the labor of carrying the lever from the outside to the inside of the track, and vice versa.

I am aware that a claw-bar has heretofore been employed in which the slotted head is provided with a claw in each end, and I therefore lay no claim, broadly, to such construction of claw-head.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture, the clawbar herein described, consistingofthe bent handle A and head B, curved on its lower face, and provided at each end with claws having tapering slots 1) b, as specified.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

MESHAOH BUTTS.

Witnesses:

S. H. MILLIGAN, HENRY N. FREE. 

